


If It Makes You Less Sad, We'll Start Talking Again

by gryffindos



Series: Self-Indulgent Glitradora College AU [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/F, Polyamory, Prompt Fic, Reconciliation, Stream of Consciousness, i reread exactly none of this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26082109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gryffindos/pseuds/gryffindos
Summary: "What if she won’t take us back?"It was the first and last time either of them voiced the worst case scenario. Still, it hung, unspoken, in the air anytime they mentioned her name.ORIt's hard having two girlfriends when you're an overachiever. At least there's an emotional support cat.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: Self-Indulgent Glitradora College AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893565
Comments: 4
Kudos: 77





	If It Makes You Less Sad, We'll Start Talking Again

None of them could be sure when it started happening. Sometime over the past semester, they’d found themselves spending less and less time at home. Catra’s shifts at Weaver’s had gotten gradually longer, until she’d found herself working doubles every time her classes allowed it. Her coworkers had dropped like flies, quitting left and right as they’d realized the owner’s expectations of them wasn’t worth the minimum wage and measly tips they’d been scraping in. Adora’s personal trainer had been working her to the bone, pushing her to her limits every time they met. Where her teammates fell, she would be there to catch them. Glimmer, well. Glimmer had busied herself spending time with Bow whenever he wasn’t in class or with Sea Hawk, other moments spent in the library studying for whichever test she had coming up next.

She felt lonely, she’d confided to Adora one night as they attempted to stay awake for Catra’s arrival home. (They hadn’t made it.) The emptiness of their shared apartment had been unbearable, and she’d resolved to spend as little time there alone as she could help. Adora could only sigh and hold the other girl close, finding no reassuring words on her lips. She’d missed them, too. What could they do about it, though? Her training was necessary, as was Catra’s job. So all she could do was nuzzle an apology into Glimmer’s scalp, making a promise of more time together that had gone unfulfilled. 

\-----

It had been a blowout argument, one that in retrospect she should’ve seen coming a long time ago. Adora had gotten home in the late evening as usual, Glimmer’s usual spot on the couch empty. She hadn’t been in the bedroom or the bathroom either. Although missing out on precious moments with her girlfriend made Adora frown, it wasn’t exactly unusual anymore. To her chagrin, Glimmer’d been spending more and more time at Bow’s, and had been coming home closer to when Catra got off her closing shifts. 

Had Adora had the energy, time, or emotional intelligence, she would have been worried.  _ Should  _ have been worried. It’s still one of her biggest regrets to this day; she’d known even then the way Glimmer got upset. If she’d only been paying attention, if she’d only given more than a damn half second of thought. Looking back, she remembers the way Glimmer’s answers had been getting shorter and more clipped. The way she rarely curled herself into the space between her and Catra anymore. If she’d only  _ noticed. _ But she hadn’t. Neither she nor Catra had noticed. 

Adora had curled up with Melog on the couch, the enormous cat taking up twice as much space as she did. The occasional loneliness, previously reserved for her hour-long break between classes and practice, had come back to hit her full-force. Melog was the only assurance she’d had as she waited for her girlfriends to come back to her. 

The time between Adora’s arrival, then Catra’s, then Glimmer’s, feels nonexistent now. At the moment though, she knows the minutes had dragged on like hours. 

Glimmer had arrived shortly after Catra, her eyes rimmed with red as she’d crossed the threshold of the apartment. The other two had been at her side immediately, offering comfort that only seemed to bring Glimmer’s tears back. After several moments of quiet, hiccuping sobs while Adora and Catra stood helplessly by, she’d looked up. Adora has never forgotten the look on her face. She probably never will. Anger and hurt and resignation held Glimmer together by delicate strings. And then her world had fallen apart.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

She hadn’t stayed long enough to talk it out. She’d gathered up as much of her stuff as she could carry, and moved in temporarily with Bow. 

\-----

The time spent without Glimmer was a painful blur, a gaping emptiness, unfillable. They’d gotten into arguments more often. They’d thrown around words they hadn’t meant, would never mean. Thoughtless and cruel with one another, Catra’s words dug into Adora’s heart like hooks, taking chunks of it with them. They’d been equally angry at themselves. Arguments of this caliber always resulted in one of them spending the night on the couch, Melog’s presence the only comfort they had. The girl in the bedroom didn’t fare much better, both of them lying awake with their pain. They didn’t sleep those nights. There was always an apology the next morning, though it never prevented the next fight. 

The nights they’d spent together typically weren’t much better. The time spent in each other’s arms was rare then, most nights sleeping with their backs turned to each other, never touching. The only point of connection they had then was Melog, always curled up just loosely enough between them to be touching them both. On Adora’s worst nights, when she cried silently until sleep took her, Melog would rest their head on her side, purring. Adora suspected Catra had silently cried herself to sleep as often as she had, Melog’s rumbling filling the air when she thought it happened with their back pressed against hers. She’d never turned to check. 

They almost broke up. They were on the brink of collapse; one argument, one wrong word, one sleepless night away from it all falling apart, when-

“I want her back,” Catra had admitted one night, cracks in her voice. 

They’d stayed up all night to come up with a plan. A way to get their missing soulmate back. They probably wouldn’t have slept much anyway.

They’d fix themselves first. Catra and Adora loved each other too, after all. Though the most beautiful combination was the three of them together, the couple could make themselves complete without Glimmer. The thought ached, made more real when Adora had stumbled through the question.  _ What if she won’t take us back?  _ It was the first and last time either of them voiced the worst case scenario. Still, it hung, unspoken, in the air anytime they mentioned her name.

It hadn’t been easy. It had hurt, knowing they were striving for something without the missing piece of their puzzle in it. But they tried. They talked, and they listened. Instead of turning on each other through the haze of their grief, they felt it together. The blame they’d each been pinning on themselves was shared. They knew by then that they’d both been too oblivious, they’d both ignored Glimmer’s pleas. They learned to forgive themselves, learned to forgive each other. They learned to forgive Glimmer for leaving. 

It had taken time. So much time. It took so long, they were afraid Glimmer had moved on. That she just didn’t love them anymore. It would be a fresh injury, to be rejected by someone they’d once promised forever to, but one they’d learned to heal together. Still, neither of them gave up. Neither of them fell out of love. They’d known then something that rings true to this day. They love Glimmer. They’ll love Glimmer until the end of time itself. No one, themselves included, would ever be able to rip that away from them.

\-----

Two months later, halfway through summer, their lease expired. They’d renewed it with two names instead of three and held each other as they cried that night. Melog cried with them.

\-----

They approached Glimmer after a gathering at her and Bow’s apartment a week after the lease signing, the three of them alone together for the first time since That Night. Bow had made himself scarce, becoming an impromptu crasher of Sea Hawk and Mermista’s date. They wouldn’t mind adding Sea Hawk’s boyfriend into the mix anyway.

Glimmer’s face had been carefully smoothed into blankness. While she could see through it, see the nervousness and  _ hope  _ hidden behind her eyes, it still tore at Adora’s heart. She-  _ they  _ had done this. Had made Glimmer feel as though she could no longer be honest with them. She forced herself into tranquility, furious at herself for also donning a mask.

The idea they presented to Glimmer was simple in theory, though a little more complicated to put into practice. They would have a day of the week of Glimmer’s choosing, which would be for them and them only. Catra would be unavailable to work that day, and Adora would neither practice with her team nor visit her personal trainer, though it would be difficult to guarantee by that point in the summer that none would have classes. They’d keep this arrangement until the end of the semester, or, if it came to it, until Glimmer decided to break it off. The latter was a painful but necessary addition, tacked on almost inaudibly by Adora.

Glimmer had been silent, uncertainty clouding her face until she managed to compose herself. Catra and Adora had turned to leave then, promising her as much time as she needed to decide.

“Friday,” Glimmer had choked out. “I’ll see you on Friday.”

So Friday it was. 

As fate would have it, Fridays were classless for Catra and Adora, and thus would only be dedicated to each other and Glimmer. Adora texted her coach and her trainer the second they were back in her car, Catra updating her work availability the very next day.

\-----

The first Friday they shared was full of pain, memories, explanations, and apologies. They had all been a little selfish, all a little blind to what the other two needed. They’d talked openly, sharing their side of the story with candor and no judgement. Glimmer had apologized for not letting her ex-girlfriends talk to her the night of their breakup, for dropping uncaught hints instead of sitting them down for a real conversation. Catra and Adora had apologized for making her feel alone, for putting everything else in their lives above their relationship. Though Adora had expected the conversation to pick at a now stitched up wound, it had actually been the beginning of the scarring. It would never be the same. That didn’t make it unfixable. 

She had nearly collapsed at the door after Glimmer left, already missing the light she carried with her wherever she went. Melog’s gentle blue glow seemed to dim in response.

She and Catra were gentle with each other that night, sweet kisses on shoulders and hushed whispers under the covers. Despite the promising end to the night, Adora had had to ask.

“What if she decides this isn’t worth it?”

There’d been a long pause, so long she thought Catra wouldn’t answer her.

“We’ll get through it. Together.” 

Every Friday got easier. Every Friday, having Glimmer over felt more like having Glimmer back home. They learned to laugh together again. It was Glimmer who’d cracked the first joke during her second visit. Melog mimicked a slew of sneezes that attacked Catra, a back and forth that lasted several seconds.  _ Still cuter when Melog does it,  _ Glimmer had teased, earning an outburst of nervous giggles from Adora, and a couch cushion to the face from Catra. 

After a few visits, they’d learned to flirt with each other again. A comment Catra intended to seem offhanded had taken Glimmer aback, the other two anxiously waiting to see how she’d react. She’d bitten her lip and flirted back with a grin.

As the semester began and progressed, Glimmer had begun staying at their apartment later. Staying till evening turned into staying till late evening turned Adora into a stuttering mess.  _ It’s technically tomorrow now, why don’t you just spend the night? If- If you want, that is. _ Glimmer had accepted. After a few weeks and several pointed comments about the couch making Glimmer’s back hurt, the bed was opened up as an option. An unspoken agreement, Fridays became Fridays and Saturday mornings. 

Then Fridays and Saturday mornings turned into weekends. Obligations on Saturdays and Sundays were shared, or if they weren’t Glimmer would stay behind with whomever was staying home. If Glimmer needed to do something, she’d come right back when it was done, despite Adora’s nervousness that she’d take the opportunity to just go home until next Friday. The first time Catra and Adora both had an obligation, Catra had stumbled over the offer to let Glimmer stay in the apartment. Glimmer accepted that one too. 

Late one Tuesday afternoon, a rare day for them all to be able to see one another, Glimmer had quizzically looked up from her laptop.

“Hey, registration’s opening next Monday for me so I’m dropping some classes into my shopping cart. I can get away with no Friday classes again, so would that work for you guys or would you rather do like a Saturday or Sunday ‘Us Day’ next semester?”

Adora’s heart bottomed out.

They’d found a new dynamic, imperceptible to anyone but themselves. They fit together differently, including the two who’d stayed together. It was new and familiar. Exciting and comforting. It had been like finding the missing piece of a puzzle again. It had been like getting the love of her life back.

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes you get a prompt that's like "Melog wants feeding and is being a brat cat to Glitradora when they try to sleep in" and then your brain goes haywire when trying to decide why they're sleeping in. and then you never actually answer why they're sleeping in. 
> 
> story and chapter titles from the boy who blocked his own shot by brand new
> 
> obligatory link to my [tumblr](https://gryffindos.tumblr.com/)


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